jiwe n’dovu by polterbyte

Fractal • Creatures • posted on Oct 03, 2008

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Description

The stone flowers first seen deep inside the Amboni Caves, in Tanzania, in the seventeenth century were generally considered the most peculiar and amazing mineral formations on Earth. That is, until it was discovered in 2003 that “most peculiar and amazing” is a gross understatement at best. What scientists have discovered is that what passes for minerals are, in fact living beings. Close inspection had already revealed an extremely odd, but highly organized internal formations, with glassy compounds and opaque filaments intermingling in intricate patters. The fact that the formations are extremely similar to each other could have been ascribed to natural forces of pressure and time, but that the exact same intricate and organized entrails can be found in every single formation would require a much more elaborate explanation. When further studies revealed that these internal formations could be mapped almost exactly to mollusks entrails, the conclusion was that the formations were carved by some ancient and forgotten tribe. Still, something even more peculiar further puzzled the geologists in charge of studying the stone flowers or, as the locals call them, the "jiwe n’dovu", or elephant stones. The flow of air around the supposed gems was radically altered as it approached them. Air molecules slowed down as they approached under 1/32 of an inch almost to a halt, and beyond 1/64 the air is so still as to be deemed solid. The conclusion seems to be as fantastic as unavoidable: the gems are in fact living beings, which create around them a displacement field that slows time almost to a halt. They may even be moving fast by their own perception, but only because time almost doesn’t pass in their displaced little corner of the universe. Laser measurements made in the past few years show that these beings move at an imperceptible 1.3nm/sec, which means that it would take them 2230 years to move one single inch. As a comparison, the tectonic movements to which Earth’s continents are subject are several orders of magnitude higher: in one single year continents drift between two and four inches apart/towards each other. How these amazing creatures are able to literally tame time to their advantage is only one of a myriad of questions surrounding them.